


Ready To Lose

by Cafegirlfeelings



Category: Pitch (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Human Disaster Mike Lawson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 06:17:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9644075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cafegirlfeelings/pseuds/Cafegirlfeelings
Summary: Ginny Baker never expected that she would be spending her first night back in the Majors carrying a drunk Mike Lawson home, if she had learned anything this year, it´s to expect the complete and utter unexpected.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jennonthewire](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=jennonthewire).



> Hey guys! This is my first Bawson fic, and I´m submitting it for the Tumblr Valentines Day exchange. Sorry for any gramatical or storyline errors :) Enjoy!

¨Baker, I´m a grown ass man, you shouldn´t be wasting your one night to let loose on bringing my drunk self home. I don´t need a babysitter.¨ Mike Lawson stuttered this as he stumbled through the doorway, Ginny nudging him towards the couch. 

¨If it makes you feel any better, I did pass my baby sitter certification in the third grade, so if you sober up somehow during the night and manage to choke on some munchies, I´m quite prepared. Now drink some water, unless you want to deal with a fully insane hangover in the morning.¨ Ginny chuckled as she handed him a glass of ice water, for all of her 23 years, she could count on one hand the number of times she´s been drunk, and they had not been fun experiences. 

¨I hate to break it to you Rookie, but you´re like twelve. I can´t really take your mama bear routine seriously,¨ he took a gulp of the water and leaned his head back on the couch, staring at the ceiling. Ginny perched herself on the kitchen stool stiffly, for all of the spectacle and glass of Mike´s house, she never felt comfortable in it, to her it was just felt empty and lonely. 

¨Fight me all you want Lawson, but I just saved you from the painful embarrassment of throwing up in the back of your Uber and having it end up on TMZ.¨

¨There you go again, trying to rescue me from my own choices. You´re constantly putting what everyone else needs and wants in front of how you truly feel, how about putting yourself first for once? You´re everyone´s superhero, and Ginny, you got to realize it´s okay to act human sometimes.¨ This mini speech from Lawson, despite the slight slurring of words, made her chest tighten just for a second. This was the Mike Lawson that she had become best friends with, the man who she developed complex and admittingly confusing feeling for. She didn´t even know how to respond to this, it was just them in this room, she couldn´t smile and nod like this was a pregame speech. 

¨Even drunk, you´re still giving me your inspirational speeches,¨ she smiled at him before continuing, ¨I wouldn´t call myself a superhero, if anything, I´m like a highly functioning robot. Before all of this Padres craziness, I was so consumed by baseball, by needing to be more than enough, that I barely had any friends. I was just a shell of a person, but now things are different. I have Evelyn and Blip, who are actually my friends, I have Amelia, despite the whole firing fiasco, and I, I have you. I always needed a good catcher.¨ Ginny bites her lip after having all of this tumble out of her mouth, she didn´t know why she had said all of this, Mike probably wouldn´t remember it in the morning anyway. 

¨For all the crazy crap we´ve had to deal with this year, and it´s been a lot, you got me Baker. I´m not going anywhere.¨ Instead of replying with something witty, Ginny just looked at him. In that moment, there was just silence and she didn´t know what to say, she was afraid of what would happen if she let this hang in the air. Ginny abruptly stood up, clearing her throat as she did so. 

¨I´m going to grab a water, do you want anything? Part of me is terrified that I´ll open your fridge, and find heaps of kale or Duartes dead body,¨ she heard Mike laugh from the couch, but it felt hollow. Ginny busied herself with pouring a drink, trying to distract from what just happened, or more accurately, what could have happened. She couldn´t let herself be controlled by her feelings, acting on them could easily collapse both her and Mike´s careers. 

¨Don´t you have somewhere to be? I don´t want Evelyn to murder me for keeping you trapped in the Lawson compound.¨ 

¨You don´t have to worry about any sneaky Sanders stabbings, at least for tonight. Before I discovered you stumbling in the dark, my plan was to head home and party with a bowl of popcorn and Netflix, so I´m not missing much.¨ 

¨So I´m not keeping you from a hot date with baby Mark Zuckerberg?¨ Ginny sensed a bitter sarcasm to Mike´s tone, he never liked Noah, not even in the beginning of their relationship, when everything was a fairytale.

¨No, Noah and I broke things off a while ago. He was great, but I think he thought that I was broken and that he could fix me. Noah saw me as the princess with the daddy issues, and he was the Silicon valley knight coming to save me.¨ 

¨I don´t know if this is dudesplaining or whatever you millennials call it, but I never thought that Noah was the guy for you. You need to be with someone who sees you as the badass that you are, not some girl that needs rescuing. So you have issues, literally everyone does, that doesn´t make you broken.¨ Ginny grinned at him with a crooked smirk, his words brought a warm stirring to her chest.

¨Now that you´re done with your little monologue, tell me something. What happened with you and Rachel? Last time I heard you guys were getting back together, and I haven´t seen her in like three months. What´s the real story?¨ She rested her chin in her hands, anticipating his response with a knot in her stomach.

¨Okay, Dr.Baker, here´s the real scoop. After Rachel and I got divorced, I was a complete trainwreck. My drinking was out of control, I was sleeping with anyone with a pulse, it took me months to even deal with it. I never really got over the idea of us, when I imagined my future, she was always the one who it was with. The moment Rachel was finally single again, I thought to myself that this was it, my life would finally get put back together again. Then it happened, and truthfully, I think that being with Rachel was more about wanting that old life, than actually wanting to be with her.¨ She sat, soaking all of this in and not knowing how to respond, what did this mean for them?

¨Well Lawson, I can´t say I´m surprised that we both suck with the whole romantic relationship deal. Baseball takes up too much of both of our hearts for us to be able to focus on anything else.¨ This fact was true, for all of Ginny´s life, she had only really dated two people, and both relationships crashed and burned. As she let this marinate in her mind, Mike leaned forward on the couch, catching her attention immediately.

¨Ginny, do you know the real reason why I was going to leave San Diego?¨ He had a strange glint in his eye as he looked at her, and Ginny had no idea where he was going with this. 

¨Mike, look you don´t have to explain it to me again. You´re getting up there in age, your knees aren´t the greatest, and it´s not like we were going to win it all this year anyway. It´s completely under-¨ Mike interrupted her at that very moment, gently placing his hand on her arm to stop her.

¨You´re the reason I was gonna leave.¨ Ginny had no idea what he was talking about, while she and Mike had their differences when she first came to the Padres, those were a thing of the past by the time his name was being thrown around in trade talks. 

¨What the hell are you talking about? Was Ginsanity too much for you? Were you upset that you weren´t the biggest star on the team? God, I thought you were a better person than that.¨ She shook her head, flabbergasted at what was transpiring.

¨Will you let me explain myself for one second? I was going to get traded because I couldn´t stay in San Diego anymore, not with you there, not without destroying everything you´ve worked so hard for.¨

¨What do you mean?¨

¨I mean I´m in love with you, Baker. I was going to go to Chicago and start over because I couldn´t handle it, I didn´t trust myself enough to know I wasn´t going to hurt you, and ruin both of our lives.¨ Ginny´s heart stopped, what the hell was happening? None of this felt real to her and all she knew was she had to go home, she had to go anywhere but here. She was petrified of what would happen, of what she might do if she stayed. She rose to her feet, running a hand through her obsidian curls. 

¨Mike, stop talking right now. You have no idea what you´re saying, you don´t love me, you´re just drunk and... and confused. Get some sleep, I´ll see you at practice tomorrow.¨ She grabbed the knob of the door and rushed out, scrambling into her car, shaking the whole way there. What did this mean? Mike Lawson couldn´t possibly really love her? Did she love him? Nothing made sense as she drove away, blinking back tears.

3 Days Later...

¨Gin, can I catch a ride with you to Boardners? Evelyn has commandeered our family vehicle to scout out resturant locations, and as much as I love her, she´s not someone who likes being bothered while on the job.¨ Ginny looks up at Blip as she grabs her bag, caught off guard by anyone else being in the locker room.

¨Not to burst your bubble Blip, but I´m not going out tonight. You can ask Duarte, I´m sure he´s more than happy to get some team bonding in.¨ This comment made both of them laugh, but Ginny´s demeanor was clearly off.

¨I know he´d love that,¨ he shook his head, ¨don´t tell me you´re going home to practice. You are the reason we won today, and besides, you should be resting your shoulder as much as possible.¨

¨No, I´m not going home to practice, I just want to unwind. It´s been a long couple of days and I need the sleep.¨ As she went to leave, Blip stood there stoically, Ginny knew he was onto her.

¨Is everything alright with you? You´ve seemed off since you came back on Thursday, and don´t think I haven´t noticed that you and Mike barely spoke today. What are you guys fighting about, who has the better hair? I personally vote for Lawson, but that´s just me.¨Ginny turned to face him, arms crossed tensely. 

¨Did Mike ever tell you why he wanted to get traded last year?¨ Blip raised an eyebrow as she asked this.

¨What does this have to do with anything? Has Lawson been running his mouth about wanting to go to Chicago, I thought he was over that whole thing.¨

¨You know how Mike was drunk on Thursday and I took him home? When we got inside, he started talking about why he really wanted to leave and-¨ Blip stopped her in the middle of her sentence.

¨What did Mike say, Ginny? The reason he tried to leave doesn´t seem all that interesting, his knees were bad, he wasn´t going to start every game. It makes sense to me, why is he dwelling on it now?¨

¨Mike told me that he was going to leave because of me,¨ she focused her eyes on the floor as she continued, ¨he said that he tried to get traded because he was in love with me.¨ This revelation left Blip stunned, he attempted to speak, to say anything, but just kept still.

¨Are you serious? After all these years of womanizing, Mike Lawson wants to settle down, with you! Both of you know that this can´t happen right, imagine how the rest of the team would react, imagine the press reaction. You two need to get your crap together.¨ Blip knelt down on the bench, resting his head in his hands.

¨Blip, calm down, nothing can and will happen. It´s just a lot to take in at once.¨

¨Do you love him?¨ This question makes Ginny wince, this wasn´t time to think about her feelings. 

¨What I feel or don´t doesn´t matter what right now.¨

¨Ginny, you´re one of my closest friends. As mad as I am with Mike right now, that doesn´t involve you. I see the way you look at him, he´s your catcher. If you feel that way, it´s completely understandable.¨ This was all too much for her in the moment, and Ginny knew what she had to do. 

¨Blip, I have to go. I´ll talk to you and Ev tomorrow. I just have somewhere I have to be.¨ With that, she stormed out of the room, leaving a confused Blip alone in her wake.

The moment Ginny arrived at Mike Lawson´s doorstep, she fought the urge to run back into her car and forget this ever happened, forget these past three days ever happened. She knew she couldn´t go back, too much had already been said, life wasn´t going to go back to normal. Ginny rung the doorbell, wringing her hands anxiously as she debated what she would say, if she would say anything. On the second ring, she saw Mike´s tall and muscular frame come to the door, and she began to gnaw on her bottom lip. He opens the door, she can see the wear this has taken on him, his hair is mussed and it appears that he hasn´t slept in days. ¨Baker, what the hell are you doing here?¨

¨What do you think I´m doing here, Mike? We´ve been acting like strangers for the past few days, and I hate it.¨ She steps through the doorway, smelling the familiar scent of his home, it constantly smelled of green apples and chamomile. ¨I just need you to tell me if you meant what you said to me Thursday night.¨

¨Ginny,¨ Mike took a step forward, sighing deeply. 

¨Mike, all I need for you is to tell me... Tell me if you meant that you love me, that you left because of how you felt. Just give me a yes or no and I´ll leave. I´ll act like all of this never happened.¨ Ginny turned away from Mike, preparing for him to admit regret, to say he confused their close friendship for love. ¨Look, this whole idea was dumb. We´re teammates, and I can´t ruin that, you probably don´t even remember what happened. I´m just gonna go.¨ Just as Ginny began to turn the doorknob, she felt a hand on her back and sensed Mike behind her. He held her elbow in his hand and turned her to face him, Ginny´s breath hitched as she looked at him.

¨I remember every single detail of that night,¨ Mike stared at her with an amount of awe and tenderness that forced her to look back. ¨If you want to know what my answer is, it´s yes. I love you Ginny Baker.¨ He leaned forward, pressing his forehead into hers, his beard brushed her lips yet he didn´t close the gap between them. ¨As mushy as I´m getting here, it´s your call here. You can say no, and I´ll walk away, no questions asked.¨ Ginny knew what the answer was, she had known it for months now, all she had to do was say it. She clasped his hand in hers, letting herself finally feel the depth of everything that had just transpired. 

¨The answer´s yes, it´s always been yes.¨ That was all Ginny had to say, it was enough for both of them. She cupped his bearded cheeks in her hands and pressed her lips to his, doing what she had wanted to do since that night at Boardners. The kiss was unlike anything Ginny had ever felt, Mike´s hands were wrapped tightly against her waist, he pushed her against the wall, sending charges of heat into her lower stomach. She pulled back, brushing her fingers through Mike´s hair sweetly. ¨Is this really happening? Are we really happening?¨

¨Yes Baker, it looks like you´re stuck with me.¨ Laughing, she pressed her arms around his neck and he lifted her up, even with his old age and bad knees, Mike could still manage to carry her. As Ginny curled up in his bed that night, all she could think of was one thing, Mike Lawson was anything but expected.


End file.
